It says something about a community when it has more dispensaries than grocery stores

Alameda County
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As a resident of the unincorporated Eden Area, I would like to share my personal opinion regarding the fact that Alameda County is considering an increase in the number of permits for medical marijuana dispensaries in the unincorporated Eden Area (i.e., Castro Valley, Ashland, Cherryland, San Lorenzo). The County is proposing one additional permit in the Eden Area, making the total number of allowable dispensaries four. Currently two permits are being used and one is unused.

Simply stated, I think that adding more dispensaries is a bad idea. I agree that marijuana may have medicinal properties, but I also know there are many problems associated with dispensaries.

Supervisor Nate Miley has suggested that the two dispensaries in the Eden Area are not meeting the needs of area residents since they have to stand in line due to residents of other communities coming into the Eden Area to shop. There are not many dispensaries in the surrounding area. However, I visited both dispensaries in the Eden Area and neither had people waiting in lines. I drove right up to the front of both and parked in front of the door. One had an empty waiting room filled with empty chairs and three security guards. I also hear there is now delivery service for patients.

At last week’s Unincorporated Services Committee meeting, none of the proponents for the dispensaries said they could not get their medication, but rather they mostly were upset with how their medication was categorized. The proponents don’t want us to call it marijuana, but rather cannabis. They don’t want us to call it a dispensary, but rather a club. They want us to call it medicine rather than a drug. I don’t see how changing terminology will change public opinion all that much.

Public comment during the June 29, 2016 Unincorporated Services Committee meeting.
Public comment during the June 29, 2016 Unincorporated Services Committee meeting.

Some proponents discussed how they felt marijuana was safer than pain narcotics or that it cured things no other medicine could. Nothing I heard indicated the need for more dispensaries or that the ones in the Eden Area were not adequate.

This subject turned out to be so complex that I did some research before responding publically to this issue. I found a comprehensive, yearly study done on Colorado after it legalized marijuana. The study was very informative regarding both dispensary issues and what happens after legalization on a number of topics (e.g., crime rates, DUIs, fatalities due to marijuana use, emergency room visits, levels of marijuana found in the blood of children, and other statistics). “The Legalization of Marijuana in Colorado- the Impact” is 170 pages of everything you wanted to know about what happened in Colorado. The information in the study is what experts are looking at when deciding whether or not to legalize marijuana. The process in Colorado developed similarly to California by first allowing doctors to prescribe medicinal marijuana to some patients, then having dispensaries, and then finally legalizing it, which is now on the November ballot in California.

I believe that abuse of the current system is rampant. The study that I previously mentioned has a chart explaining that those who reported using medical marijuana dispensaries included the following reasons: 1% Glaucoma, 1% HIV/AIDS, 2% seizures, 3% cancer, 10% nausea, 15% muscle spasms and 93% severe pain. (Total will not equal 100% because some patients reported using it for more than one condition).

Most of the dispensary patients were men. By national statistics on pain, there should be more women than men at the dispensaries. (See Scientific American, “Women Feel Pain More Intensely Than Men Do,” 1/23/12) Most of the patients at dispensaries are young men with severe pain, a subjective complaint.

Because marijuana is abused, it has a bad rap. Dispensaries that provide marijuana can be seen as a negative thing when new business is trying to develop an area. Dispensaries also have cash money going in and marijuana going out, which makes them a target for criminals wishing to rob them. The security guards wear guns.

The Colorado study concluded that after legalization, marijuana – related crime went up and that the majority of marijuana-related crime in Colorado was the burglary of licensed marijuana businesses. New businesses don’t want to be around all that. Neighboring communities don’t want to live near that. People who volunteer their time to better their communities, such as myself, would prefer if we focused on developing parks and increasing grocery stores. It says something about a community when it has more dispensaries than grocery stores.

Nobody is saying remove the dispensaries that we have, but the potential costs to our communities outweigh any need for additional dispensaries. There is no reason to provide obstacles to an already struggling community like the unincorporated areas. If the surrounding cities don’t want to host them, there must be a reason. It is likely that increased crime and enforcement monitoring outweigh any tax benefit from these dispensaries.

No one that I heard speak at any meeting gave any reason, either statistically or allegorically, that we need additional dispensaries, let alone that we need them in our area. A single unsupported statement that we need more dispensaries should not take precedence over the community’s valid and statistically supported concerns.

Some say “why should we care if it might be legalized soon?” Legalization does not mean you can buy and smoke it on the street. Marijuana would still come only from legally recognized dispensaries and would have a lot of rules associated with it. But that is a discussion for a whole other article.

With all due respect, another dispensary will not make the sky fall, especially if regulators regulate, and due dilligence is mandated. The reality is that the area which you seek to protect from the “ills” of majijuana has liquor stores on just about every corner peddling incerdibly lethal legalized drugs to residents at-risk. I find your fear mongering misdirected and it begs the question as to why there is such fear about what *might happen* when all around us in our neighborhood the unthinkable happens every day. I work 100 yards away from the largest dispensary in the United States. I’ve been at my place of employment for almost 20 years now. Our neighborhood has become more peaceful, clean, friendly, and uneventful over the last few decades with Harborside operating within it, *GASP*. Harborside’s corporate citizenship and responsibility to this community is not just a beacon for other dispensaries, it serves as an excellent model for all businesses. Just ask the mayor of Oakland. But even Mayor Schaff will admit that the real benefit comes in the form of lucrative tax revenue and how it can be used to make dramatic improvements in the communtiy.. Show me a school in the the unincorporated area that wouldn’t benefit from just a sip of such tax revenue? This is the promise that well run dispensaries hold for the communities in which they lie. Meanwhile in Oakland… http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Feds-drop-bid-to-shut-down-Harborside-in-big-win-7390365.php

The sky is falling for some! Dispensaries have a record of crimes at or near them. Lets do it right and dispense Doctor prescribed Marijuana from drug stores or Hospitals, not in residential areas that have the side effect of property devaluation.

I almost agreed with your assertion that dispensaries have a higher risk of robbery, until I realized banks must have the same issues. Both carry enormous amounts of cash and require armed security. Sounds like you are concerned about the competency of the guards at the dispensary- would your attitude change if you knew that security was being provided by a reputable company? If the security guards have guns, they surely must be licensed to carry. What business person would risk their license of that?

VICE has some great programming regarding marijuana/cannabis and various issues surrounding it. One program told the story of military veterans creating a security business providing money transportation, i.e. Brinks, Loomis, etc. Let me tell you, these guys know what they’re doing.

I’m no fool, I know this is a money grab, but it doesn’t bother me. I agree, the shopping in this area is dismal, I wish we could attract more businesses to the area, but I don’t know what that takes.

As for the politics of marijuana usage, I view it as the same level of alcohol. Although I’ve never heard of anyone dying from mixing prescription drugs with marijuana… Really, it’s none of my business.

You ask why, I ask why not? Admittedly, I haven’t read the report you referenced, but on face value, Talking to people in Denver, and watching news programs, I just don’t see it the same.

Thank you for your work! I don’t know how I stumbled on to this site, but I’m happy to have found it. As a homeowner in this community, I think blogs like these are a very important part of creating a place where we’d all like to live

Michelle, I came across this post while searching for a way to contact you about your recent post on patch about a server at Don Joses. I just wanted to say that you claimed they had “to die for” ground beef tacos. After reading this post I can rule out that you’re stoned out of your mind while eating those tacos. Nothing at don Joses is to die for. The place is trash. I thought it was good when I was a teenager. Then I grew up and learned about real Mexican food and found that almost every Mexican place in the Bay Area was better than don Joses. Your post about the server Joel was nice but the food and drinks there are garbage. I would suggest going to Los Compadres in Hayward to get some great Mexican food. Or if you don’t want to leave CV even Portales is way better than Don Joses and they’re a 7.5/10 in my book.

But alas I can rule that you are not high out of your mind after reading this post. In fact you probably never even tried marijuana given the way you talk. And the only comment agreeing with you seems to be your husband or brother (lol.) So that’s who’s enabling/encouraging you to make these asinine posts.

You’re out of touch and not with the times. You can have your crap Mexican food and no dispensaries. Just move to Arkansas. It would be perfect for you there. I lived there for s year and I can tell you there’s only one decent Mexican spot, tons of garbage spots and no dispensaries. Lots of white people too which I can take an educated guess and assume that would influence your decision to move there or not.

Please tell me more about these fatalities from marijuana. Like the other person said: there’s liquor stores on every corner. And I bet $20,000 that alcohol causes way more deaths than weed. But I don’t see you complaining about liquor stores.

Anyway its sad to read your posts and think about how many other people there are that have similar opinions to you. That’s how Trump got elected. I rarely reply to anything like this. But damn you really sounded like a fool and I just wanted to tell you that. 😁 have a good day!!!👍🏿👍🏾👍🏽👍🏼👍🏻👍enjoy all the different races of thumbs up emojis. Have you written any articles about wanting a wall too?! 😂

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